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Sam Knight - page 58

Sam Knight has 859 articles published.

Spending Fight Between Obama And Congress Threatens Construction of “Western Intelligence Capital” in U.K.

President Obama has set up a showdown with Congress over money for the construction of what has been called the “Western intelligence capital.” The administration on Tuesday, in threatening to reject the defense appropriations bill making its way through the House, cited the legislative branch’s move to “limit expending funds associated with the construction of the Joint Intelligence Analysis Complex Consolidation (JIAC).” The facility is set to be located at a Royal Air Force base near Croughton, England. The Office of Management and Budget noted that… Keep Reading

With Key Trade Vote Looming, Supporters Entice the Undecided While Opponents Push to Expose Secret Deals

House members who haven’t made up their minds about President Obama’s trade agenda are this week in the middle of a tug-of-war before crucial Friday votes on the matter. Supporters of bestowing the president with Trade Promotion Authority are currently engaged in horsetrading with undecided Dems, while opponents of the deal from both parties are pushing transparency measures that they hope, if passed, would expose a bad deal. The on-the-fence bloc is currently rather significant, comprising roughly one-in-three House seats, according to an article published… Keep Reading

Obama Objects to Congressional Move to Force Arms Shipments to Ukraine in N.D.A.A.

While the White House’s threat to veto this year’s annual defense policy legislation has focused on disputes over sequestration cuts and how to fund the Pentagon, a little-discussed point in the warning takes issue with language in the bill that would force the US to send arms to Ukraine. The Office of Management and Budget said that the move by the legislative branch to attach the measure to the National Defense Authorization Act would force the President to give “lethal assistance to the government of… Keep Reading

With T.P.P. and Fast Track in Limbo, Wikileaks Reveals U.S. Deregulatory Trade Agenda in Less Prominent T.I.S.A.

Wikileaks on Wednesday purported to publish details of ongoing negotiations over the Trade in Services Agreement in a move that could hand ammunition to opponents of President Obama’s trade agenda. While the President has repeatedly claimed, to much opposition, that his negotiators are currently finalizing “the most progressive trade deal in history” through the Trans-Pacific Partnership, critics say Wednesday’s publication reveals that his negotiators are seeking, through TISA, another vehicle through which regulators can be hamstrung. According to the leaked “Domestic Regulations Annex”, for example, the… Keep Reading

Portland Congressman on Pot: Maureen Dowd “Clueless,” Stoned Drivers Most Likely to Crash Into “Doritos”

Cannabis legalization advocate Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) said Wednesday that while Americans have the right to be concerned about people driving under the influence of pot, it’s just not that big of a deal, man. He downplayed a viewer’s fears about stoned motorists, during Washington Journal, a daily call-in program on C-SPAN. “If you talk to the experts and you talk to police officers who are in traffic control, they are much less concerned about somebody who has smoked a joint and driving [sic],” Blumenauer… Keep Reading

W.H. Deflects Question about Disappointing F.O.I.A. Record — Earnest Says Congress Should Be Subject to Transparency Law

The House Oversight Committee is holding hearings this week to discuss the backlog of Freedom of Information Act requests and the use of redactions in response such filings—both practices have burgeoned, respectively, in size and frequency under an Obama administration that has failed to live up to its promises to be the most transparent administration ever. But if you ask White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest about it, the tables should be turned on the committee. In response to a question during a daily press… Keep Reading

Elizabeth Warren Accuses S.E.C. Chief of Deliberately Giving Her “Misinformation” In Private Meeting

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Tuesday accused the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission of intentionally misleading her. Warren wrote to SEC chair Mary Jo White, saying that “there could not have been a misunderstanding” when the top federal regulator last month divulged to her, in a private meeting, bogus information about an impending rule. The regulation, which was mandated in 2010 by Dodd-Frank financial reform, would force a company that publicly trades securities to disclose the ratio in pay between its CEOs and its… Keep Reading

Yellen’s Number Two: Welfare Spending Crucial During Crisis If Congress Dithers on Stimulus and Aid

Welfare spending could insulate Americans against not just an economic collapse, but also against any Congressional inability to deal with such a calamity, the Federal Reserve’s second highest ranking official said on Monday. Vice Chair Stanley Fischer said that social safety net outlays triggered by changing economic conditions play a crucial role for policymakers trying to manage a sharp downturn “because the lags with which policy affects the economy may be relatively long.” Fischer noted that so-called “automatic stabilizers” can bridge “the lag between a… Keep Reading

Intellectual Grifter at Head of Senate Environment Committee Leads Charge Against E.P.A. Water Rules

Republicans on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee reacted with indignation to a new interpretation of anti-pollution statutes revealed Wednesday by the Obama administration. Led by its science-illiterate committee chair Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), conservative members of the panel sounded off, declaring the Environmental Protection Agency measures to be the latest example of President Obama abusing executive branch authorities. “The EPA has set themselves up to increase federal control over private lands, and I will not allow it,” Inhofe said, in a statement released after… Keep Reading

U.S. Confirms It Stopped Arms Treaty to Protect Middle East’s Only Nuclear Power

The State Department confirmed Tuesday that Secretary of State John Kerry and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke after US diplomats objected to a multilateral deal that would have called for imminent discussions on working toward a nuclear weapons-free Middle East. Department press office director Jeff Rathke said that the conversation took place after Associated Press reporter Matt Lee asked him to verify that Netanyahu called Kerry “to express Israel’s thanks for sticking to the US commitment” on the stalled Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review deal.… Keep Reading

Discontent Index Reaches Post-Collapse Low Again

The District Sentinel Discontent Index continued to fall in February but decelerated, dropping on a month-over-month basis by 0.58 points to 105.09, from 105.65 in January. The decline, though modest, meant that the measure fell to its lowest level since the worldwide financial collapse of 2008 for the second consecutive month. Falling most significantly, by 0.8 points to 29.14, was Labor Discontent. Housing Discontent fell by a mere 0.04 points to 105.09, while Consumer Discontent actually increased by 0.58 to 31.64. The labor subcomponent dropped… Keep Reading

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